Miran charged over and grabbed her. “My mate!” he roared in triumph, flung her over his shoulder, and stormed out.
Her loud laugh was probably the only thing that kept the Tiema family from charging after him. He heard Cifon step up to explain about mating marks, but soon they were off the Assist and moving quickly toward his room.
Once they were there, he tossed her on the bed, then covered her body with his. She lifted her face to kiss him, but he wanted to admire her marks for a moment.
“They’re beautiful,” he whispered. “They took so long to appear I was scared that they’d never show up. Most of the other Decanted women’s marks appeared in less than a day.”
“I guess mine were a little slow,” she said, with a grin. “Or maybe my mating marks were waiting to have a proper audience for their debut performance.”
He traced the marks with his fingers. “They happened because you felt secure.”
It wasn’t scientific, but he was positive that’s what happened. Subconsciously, Nova wasn’t sure so her body reacted by refusing to cover her neck and shoulders in the red pattern.
“I finally made you truly happy and secure and that’s why they showed up,” he said.
“I’m glad you caught me,” she murmured.
“I think you let it happen,” he said, pressing his face close to kiss the mark at the base of her throat.
“I wasn’t going to let Nerin die,” she said with an annoyed grunt.
“I don’t mean that,” he said. “You didn’t clear the searches on the room’s data pad or buy tickets directly from the roller stationmanager. There were so many ways you could’ve covered your tracks better, but you didn’t.”
“I didn’t want to leave you,” she admitted. “I thought that if you found me, I could try talking you into running away with me again. But then you had Lazil and Nerin with you, and I was going to stay hidden. But Nerin got hurt. Nothing went as planned after that.”
“But everything happened as it needed to,” Miran countered. “Thank you for being clever, honorable, and leaving clues even my humble brain could find.”
She chuckled. “I have no regrets.”
“I swear to you that I’ll spend my life making sure that you never have cause to regret," he vowed.
“Keep that in mind when I force you on stage,” she said with a grin.
“Even then,” he agreed.
Chapter 23
One Year Later
Nova
Every seat in the theatre was filled and there were some standing against the wall in the very back. The front rows were filled with all the Decanted children they’d rescued last year. Happy, excited faces were visible throughout the place.
Nova couldn’t believe it had finally happened. She and the Tiema family had worked hard to make the theatre and performance a reality. If she was honest, it was Melee who turned out to be brilliant at organization. With an almost unlimited budget from the Hissa, Melee and the cubs had brought more of their family over from their homeworld and refurbished a large, empty, and badly neglected building.
After the work was done, the extended Tiema family had settled in to be part of the production as techs and characters. No one talked about them leaving. None of them wanted to go back to their overcrowded and resource-poor homeworld.
The Hissa accepted them as permanent residents in the way the Hissa were quick to adopt just about any species. It seemed that the Hissa’s hunger for community wasn’t sated yet.
If someone had asked her what the future would look like before Miran and his team bought her, she would've described still being on the Delight and working show after show and celebrating the tiny pleasure of getting a full night's sleep or a sweet treat left behind by a patron.
Now she had a large extended family made up of the Tiema family, Hissa, other Decanted women, and many children. It was more than she’d even ever dreamed of.
“Nova, I really think I should stomp twice, not once.”
Nova turned to see Miran standing behind her. He was wearing his bright and colorful costume. Melee and Hashor had designed all the costumes but made sure to keep the traditional Hissa scoop neck style. The large neckline of the shirt showed the tattoos circling Miran’s neck and extending over his shoulders.
A perfect copy of her mating marks.
